The photo attached to this article is nothing remarkable. It’s just a nice bike in front of a nice background. I didn’t even intend to use it for the upcoming review of that bike. I just took it to take it. The only thing remarkable about it is that it should have been the very last picture I ever took on that camera. But… I got it back thanks to some fairly instant “Trail Karma.” Let me explain…

I’ve owned the same Canon G11 camera for four years now. I love it. There are better and cheaper cameras out there now but my trusty old G11 has been by my faithful partner for a long time. Probably 70% of the photos on this site have been taken with that camera. It’s almost a part of me. It’s tough, it’s reliable and I know exactly how to use it to its fullest potential. That is… now that my wife has shown me how to properly use a camera.

I went for a ride this morning. Just a ride. I didn’t have anything in particular to review. It wasn’t a “work” ride. It was a ride where I didn’t have to think about anything as I pedaled along and (as you’ll discover later) I clearly wasn’t. I rarely get those sorts of rides anymore. I was very much enjoying myself right up to the point where I realized my beloved camera was gone.

I rode from my house about 10 miles down the Erie Canal path to Pittsford, New York. This is a very scenic area of the canal with a boardwalk, a lot of nice shops and a couple of tour boat launching areas. I used this area for the photo shoot of the Bacchetta Carbon Aero 2.0 a couple of years ago. It was a nice day, I had my G11 with me as always and I decided to snap a photo of my P-38 in roughly the same spot. Then I decided to take one with my phone to post on the social media site, FourSquare. That was my mistake. I set my camera down to get my phone out and promptly rode off without it.

I have a ton of excuses. It was hot, it was very early in the morning, I hadn’t had any coffee, etc… Truth is that I just made a bonehead mistake. I didn’t realize it was gone until I stopped three miles down the trail to get a rock out of my shoe. I doubled back but the Canon was gone. No businesses were open yet so I couldn’t imagine where someone would have dropped it off if they had found it and were honest people. I assumed it was gone forever.

Heartbroken, I started on the long and hot ride home. My wife sometimes uses the G11 also, so I was trying to think of how I’d explain this to here. As I was lost in that thought and getting near home, I noticed two fully loaded upright touring bikes in front of me. I love seeing loaded tourers on the Canal Path and they always catch my eye. It simultaneously brings back fond memories of my own past tours and motivates me to start planning the next one.

I rode behind them for awhile and we eventually reached Genesee Valley Park. Three major trails come together here and it can be a bit confusing on the map. Sure enough, I watched as these two travelers veered off onto the Genesee Riverway. That’s my route home and a popular trail but I wondered if it was a mistake. Most tourers stay on the Erie Canal Path and keep heading east or west. The Riverway does go north to Lake Ontario but it doesn’t do the best job of getting you through downtown Rochester. Most people heading north try to avoid that bit.

My hunch made me speed up and try to chase them down. Oh yeah… I forgot to mention… These guys were probably 22-25 years old and FAST. Hence the use of the phrase, “TRY to chase them down.” I had no hope of catching them. I stayed within site of them hoping they’d stop. I eventually had to turn off and head for home and hoped I was wrong about their error.

I got held up for a long time at a light and that’s when I saw them pulling into a convenience store parking lot a couple blocks away. I beelined for them and caught them as they were locking up their bikes.

“Where you guys headed?” I asked.

“We’re riding across the country. Just started a week ago. Today we’re just trying to get as far as we can on the Erie Canal,” one of them answered.

“You know you’re not on it, right?”

“You’re kidding me!”

After a bit of conversation, it became evident that a couple of detour signs were still up that probably don’t need to be there anymore and they got confused. They had no idea because they were just keeping the water on their left. The Genesee River and Erie Canal meet in Genesee Park where they made their wrong turn. The Genesee River is mostly made of water (and something green) and was on their left so they thought they were going the right way. I told them that this happens all the time and assured them that they were no more than 2.5 miles off route. I also gave them directions back to the Erie Canal path and pointed them to my favorite local gourmet grocery store and Tex Mex place so that they could load up and get some food before they retraced their steps. They thanked me profusely and went on their way.

As I rode home, I was still upset about the camera. On the other hand, I was also happy knowing that when those two guys recounted their journey, I would forever be known as “the nice guy on the recumbent” that helped them out when they needed it.

When I got home, I sheepishly told my wife that I’d lost the camera. She wasn’t mad at all because she’s kind of the best. She left to go run some errands and I took one last shot at seeing if I could get my camera back. I called the booth that sits next to the Sam Patch tour boat. The bench I left my camera on is right in front of it. If any local business may possibly have it in their “Lost and Found” it would be that one. My hopes were slim though because, as I mentioned, it wasn’t open yet when I lost the camera.

A very nice girl answered and, as expected, told me that it wasn’t there. She offered to ask a couple of neighboring businesses if they had it. I told her it was early in the morning and it was probably gone but she said she would anyway and took my number and a description of the camera. I told her the only photo on the data card was of my recumbent bicycle in front of their boat.

Forty minutes later, she called back. None of the local businesses had it but when she got back to the booth, someone had returned it! Apparently a jogger picked it up minutes after I left it and went home to shower and what not until they opened. Once they were open, she came back and dropped it off. FANTASTIC!!! My wife was in the area and stopped by to pick it up. No harm done.

Long distance tourers often talk of “Road Angels.” These are people who help you out for no apparent gain of their own while you’re far from home. Today I feel like I was helped by a Road Angel and acted as one all in the span of a couple hours. For some weird reason, I do firmly believe that I got my camera back because I helped those two lost riders. Most days, I admit that I probably wouldn’t have chased them down. Today something just told me too. “Trail Karma” saved my beloved camera today. I’m sure of it. Lesson learned. I’ll definitely be quicker to help people out on the road from now on.